Manchester Orchestra @ Beaumont Club

Attendees: Ted, Bart

Money Spent: $50 -- $17 for tix, the rest in beer. Beer was expensive that night, like $6 a cup.


Adrometer rating: 3.5 based on fear for us getting stuck in bad weather. The 2 a.m. phone call telling her I was crashing at Ted's that night COULD have caused her some consternation... yet it did not! She prefers me to play it safe, which is awesome!

Overall Rating: 3 -- Too many people, we had a bad view, and the beer was too pricey. The band wasn't as exciting as I thought they'd be, either, but the sound was pretty good.

I'm writing this a few months after the fact, so expect the details to be a little bit fuzzy.

We all knew that the forecast said there'd be bad weather that night. But I was really geeked for this show, I'd been wanting to see Manchester Orchestra since I bought their album "Everything to Nothing" last year... GREAT CD. I talked to both Ted and Bart prior to leaving for KC, and both said they were cool with giving it a try.

Tickets were supposed to only be something like $12, but at the door they were jacked up to $17. We got there pretty late, and I do think we were among the last people to buy their tickets at the door, because the place was PACKED.

We saddled up to the back bar and tried to hang, but it was hard to communicate with the openers playing full-blast.

Manchester Orchestra eventually came out. I remembered they had two drummers, which was interesting. The lead singer's voice was good, but the mood of the concert may have been a little too mellow at times.

He did say one thing I really liked... he mentioned that they're still trying to establish their fan base, and they never know, from show to show, how many people will be there to see them... from 30 to 300 to 1,300, like there were there on this evening. And the crowd goes wild.

It was raining when we entered the show. Ted pointed out the window to me during the show. It was a blizzard outside.

The evening got interesting after the show ended, actually, which is interesting. Bart made a lady-friend at the show, so we all went next door to Kelly's for a post-concert beer. When we ran outside, it was just dumping snow on us. Me and Ted did our best wingman act, and hung out for as long as we felt we could, before we pulled the plug on Bart. I was simply worried about getting all the way home in this horrible weather.

So Bart says his goodbye (the hero got the girl and a goodnight kiss was the end of his evening) and the three of us run out the door. We pile up in Ted's car. Now, we've had several beers at this point, and I'm way nervous, because I'm used to sliding all over the road in the snow -- neither one of our cars are worth a shit in snow. But Ted knows something I don't: his car was built for snow. We go plowing down the roads, no sweat. As we took the on-ramp to 435 (from I-35 S) there was a semi trailer stuck sideways at the top of the ramp. I'll never forget this, Ted barely braked, he just hugged the shoulder and plowed right on past this dude. EPIC!

I was still skittish the whole ride to his place, but we made it.

When we got to Ted's place, me and Bart had to make a decision. The roads were just getting shittier by the minute, and Bart knew his car wouldn't handle like Ted's. So we decided to crash at Ted's place. I was a little bit nervous making that phone call -- when have I ever not come home? But Adro woke up, answered the phone, and was totally cool with me waiting until the next morning to come home (thanks babe!) So we played a little Rock Band at Ted's house, drinking whiskey and Coke Zero (what, no beers, Ted?!?) before we all went and passed out upstairs (Ted has two awesome guest rooms upstairs, so good sleep was still had).

Me and Bart got up at the crack of dawn and tip-toed out of Ted's house, not wanting to disturb Heather and Noah's Saturday morning.

And that's the Manchester Orchestra show, as I remember it.